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A Moorland Holiday
A Moorland Holiday is the final episode of the fifth season of the joint UK-US produced period drama, Downton Abbey. This episode focused on the family's trip to the Moorlands for the grouse shoot and their annual Christmas party which sees Tom and Sybbie Branson going to America, temporarily. This episode would introduce two characters who would figure quite prominently in the final series. Matthew Goode would make his first appearance as racing car driver Henry Talbot who would eventually marry Lady Mary Crowley; and Harry Haden-Patton would also debut as Herbert "Bertie" Pelham, the estate agent at Brancaster who would eventually become the new Marquess of Hexham. Plot September and December 1924. Lord and Lady Sinderby (real names, Daniel and Rachel Aldridge) invite the Crawley family to Brancaster Castle, the country estate, located in Northumberland, in which they have hired for driven grouse shooting. This is the first time they see Lady Rose Aldridge and her in-laws since her marriage to their son, Atticus. Before they leave, Lady Mary Crawley would say a good bye to her son, George Crawley, while her brother in-law, Tom Branson would say a good bye to his daughter (and Mary's goddaughter). Sybbie Branson and Lady Edith Crawley would say a good bye to her daughter, Marigold Gregson, all of whom would be staying at the abbey with their nanny. However, Lord Sinderby's snobbish butler Stowell (Alun Armstrong) resents serving Tom (due to him being a former servant) and ignores him. This kind of behavior towards former servants was not unusual, although it made for a very bad time for all involved. Rose reveals that none of the Brancaster servants like Stowell (Stowell had come along at the insistence of Lord Sinderby, who would rather have his butler be there, than the Marquis of Hexham's own butler). He is also rude to the other servants, who conspire to take revenge. When an irate Lord Sinderby insults Stowell and then Thomas at the dinner table (by calling the latter a stupid fool), the vengeful Thomas learns a dangerous secret from a tipsy Stowell and arranges for Sinderby's mistress and illegitimate child to arrive. The aim of this was to humiliate Sinderby and make the trip into a failure. Realizing what was going on, the resourceful Rose, with the aid of Robert and Mary, defuses the potentially scandalous situation, by stating that the mistress, named Diana Clarke, was an old friend of hers (the child, Daniel, was Lord Sinderby's son). This intervention which she had come up with on the fly, would end up earning Rose her father-in-law's gratitude and respect. Rose then reproofs Stowell for what he did and for his behavior and extracts a promise from him to treat Tom with respect. Robert states to Lord Sinderby, "She'll love you forever, if you let her. That's who she is." Meanwhile, back at Downton, the other servants are busy doing a wholesale cleaning of the house, while the family is gone. The Dowager Countess reunites Prince Kuragin and his estranged wife; while doing that, she also negotiates the continuing sparring between her butler Spratt and her lady's maid, Denker. The scheming Denker looks at a pot which served Chicken Broth. She realizes that she cannot cook it. An attempt by Daisy Mason to teach her to cook it fails, so, in a kind gesture, Daisy makes a batch for her. However, the spiteful Spratt dumps it out, knowing what kind of scheming Denker is capable of, and disgusted that she would manipulate the kind-natured Daisy to cook it for her. She is forced to make it herself, and it turns out horridly, but Violet lies and says that she could not do it justice. She then reproofs Spratt by stating that his malice was not amusing. Charles Carson and Mrs Hughes search for a house as an investment together, (taking a cue from the cook, Mrs. Beryl Patmore, who had bought herself a property in the town of Haughton-le-Skerne;) but Mrs Hughes reveals she has no money and cannot retire: she must pay for her mentally disabled younger sister Becky's care, which is why she can never retire from her job, and would have to work right up until her death. Carson reveals he has bought a property in both their names. He then proposes marriage to Mrs Hughes, and she accepts. Isobel declines Lord Merton's earlier marriage proposal, not wanting to come between him and his sons. He confronts her about a letter she had received from Larry, and that caused them to fall out. Larry had written that he was not going to change his mind about his objecting to Isobel marrying his father. He still felt that Isobel, who was nothing more than a middle-class woman, had no business being married to his father. The sale of the Della'Francesca painting (the Sotheby's auction was attended by Robert's sister, Lady Rosamund Painswick) yields some more, much needed money for the house, and as such, Carson takes advantage of it and hires a second footman. which is good for the staff. That someone is Andy Parker, the temporary footman they had in London for Rose's wedding, much to Thomas's delight. The Earl of Grantham learns he has a stomach ulcer (and not angina, as had been first feared), after a visit to the doctor in York. He agrees to stop drinking, and the family monitors his diet, so that he will be able to drink at the family's annual Christmas party. Robert learns from Lady Edith that Marigold is his granddaughter and agrees to continue the charade that she has been adopted by Edith. Tom, meanwhile, guesses the truth about Marigold and agrees to keep it a secret from the oblivious Mary. He gently tells his sister in-law that in Ireland, there were many different Marigolds. In fact, he had a cousin named Nuala that had raised a daughter as her sister and only the family knew about it. To absolve Anna, Bates writes a letter confessing to having attempted to kill Mr Green, and disappears, apparently to Ireland. Molesley and Baxter take a photo of Bates to different pubs in York, and find the one where he had lunch on the day in question, proving he was not in London when Green was killed. In the first scene, Mary goes to see Anna. The witness who identified Anna becomes uncertain, enough for the verdict to become totally unsafe. To the joy of everyone, especially Lady Mary, she is released on bail just in time for Christmas! The Abbey's annual Christmas party is held for the Downton household, servants and the rest of the village. It also serves as a goodbye party for Tom, who has found work as a writer in America (and also working with a cousin in Farm Machinery) and will be taking Sybbie with him. During their time at Brancaster, Rose and Atticus reveal that they are moving to New York, and would leave at about the same time that Tom and Sybbie would move to Boston. Before the party begins, Tom is looking around the nursery imprinting the picture into his mind for when he misses Downton. Edith comes in putting a stocking on Marigold's bed; Tom had done the same for Sybbie; and then Mary comes in and does the same for George. It was then that Tom suggests thinking about Sybil (Sybbie's mother and Mary and Edith's late youngest sister). Mary says a heart-felt prayer letting Sybil their wishes for the happiest of Christmases. Robert, who was overhearing Mary's prayer, comes in and announces that this would be Sybbie's last Christmas in the house she was born in. Tom reassures him that they would return. Robert, once again, asks Tom if Sybbie cannot stay at the Abbey until he is settled. Tom again refuses, but he tells him that "I love how you love her (Sybbie)." During a break in the singing, as they slip into the Drawing Room, Violet confesses to Isobel that she and Prince Kuragan had attempted to run away together, but the Princess stopped her, dragging Violet out of the carriage, and had her sent back to her husband. Violet was so indebted to her for pulling her from the abyss of scandal, which explains why she was helping him find his wife. Robert then interrupts them by ordering his mother and Isobel to come out and rejoin the party. Robert talks with Tom and tells him that he will be sorely missed. During the time, he reveals that he has really grown quite fond of him, and that Sybil would have been amazed that he had fit in so wonderfully. He is also grateful for all the work that Tom had put in to bring Downton to the good place it is in. He then asks Sybbie what Marigold should call him. She happily suggests "Donk". Robert, bowing to family pressure, joyfully accedes to the name, "Donk", and affectionately tells his oldest granddaughter that whenever Marigold calls him Donk, he will be remembering Sybbie. He then gives a wonderful speech hailing Tom for what he had done for Downton and for all his unflagging work in making the estate the good place it was. He then announced "But sadly, it is time now that he leaves us, and we wish him and Miss Sybbie all the best in their new lives." He then calls for a round of applause for him. Everyone applauds, even Violet. Isobel amends it with a resounding "Brava!" At the end, while everyone was singing, John Bates, who had been in Ireland, after falsely confessing to Green's murder, came in and surprised Anna, and the two stole to the backstairs and had a tender reunion, just the two of them. Trivia Brancaster Castle was shown for the first time here, and it would play a major role in the final series of the show's run, as the agent, Bertie, would later become the new Marquess of Hexham, and would live there, with his mother, Mirada. Bertie would marry Edith in the final episode and she and her daughter, Marigold would move there. Henry Talbot would also make his debut here. A close friend of Bertie and Atticus, he would eventually marry Mary and become the stepfather to her son by Matthew, George. Category:Downton Abbey episodes